A user looks forward to Valve’s handheld, but a nasty surprise awaits at pickup: the package apparently contains not a Steam Deck, but just a water bottle. In the community, the case sounds frighteningly familiar to many.
How did a Steam Deck order turn into a water bottle? A Reddit user reports that the friend ordered a Steam Deck. The delivery via GLS has been chaotic from the beginning: first, the package was marked as sent, but it did not arrive. Later, the notification followed that the shipment had been delivered to a pickup point.
When they opened the package, however, there was no Steam Deck inside. Instead, they found according to the post only a bottle of water.
They suspect that the handheld was stolen during delivery and replaced with the random PET substitute.
Nothing new
An annoying isolated case? The Steam Deck is not a small accessory but expensive hardware. Depending on the model, buyers pay up to a thousand euros. The user behind the post claims to have paid 919€ himself.
The annoyance is not entirely new. In older Reddit threads, users report similar cases: sometimes a package arrived empty, sometimes only the case was in the box, and sometimes even wooden blocks were delivered instead of a Steam Deck.
How do other users react on Reddit? In the comments and similar threads, many users advise to act quickly and document everything precisely. Don’t argue for long with the carrier, but directly contact Valve and secure evidence:
- krimsonstudios writes: “Unfortunately, this seems to happen very frequently. Valve really should stop sending packages marked with ‘STEAL ME!’…”
- nic-myers recommends: You should definitely send a report to Valve and also to GLS. I’ve read that you should potentially also file a police report.
- Case: “DasUnd lamumba_1337 sees parallels to his own case: ‘I ordered the same package in 2022. It said it had been delivered, but it was nowhere to be found. I have a camera in front of my house, and there was no delivery on that day. They sent me a new one. Screw GLS!’
Other users report that Valve has indeed helped in similar cases after an internal review. One user wrote, for example, that after a stolen Steam Deck, he had the choice between a refund and a replacement delivery (via LinusTechTips & Steamcommunity)
OP Kanyongwei shared in a comment on Reddit: My friend called GLS. They told him: ‘We are sorry, but the package has already been delivered. You have to contact the sender.
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Have you experienced such a case? If so, how did you proceed?
Let us know in the comments!
Whether the device was really stolen during delivery must now be clarified by support – the frustration is understandable: With every order, damaged boxes, missing packages, or incorrect contents can turn anticipation into annoyance. How quickly this can happen even with a gaming setup, is shown by a case in which a delivery was treated anything but carefully.
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